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WECKESSER
Significant advances have occurred in missile structures and materials technology since the late
1940's. Some of the advances were the result of improvements in design concepts and material prop-
erties; others were from the development of new materials and fabrication techniques. Rapid strides
in computer technology and methods of structural analysis have also played an important role. This
article discusses the structural design requirements for the next generation of missiles and reviews the
technological advances that will make it possible to meet those requirements.
1400 1900
Figure 4 - Typical integral-rocket-ramjet concept. The aft section of the missile serves as both the solid-rocket booster
case and the ramjet combustion chamber.
6000
Inlet leading edges
Swept leading edges
Radome
_ Forebody skin and
control surfaces
Afterbody skin
600
500
5500
400
en
.iii
5000 c.
Q) 300
:;
~
4500 ~
a..
LL 200
~
~ 4000
::s
.....
cu
~ 100
Mcr
E 3500
Q)
8
..... 7
Q)
.....
cu
6
.....
II) 5
>- 3000
'0
cu 20 40 60 80 100
Q)
.....
en Altitude (X 103 feet)
2500
Figure 6 - Bursting pressures in subsonic and supersonic
combustion chambers for a fuel equivalence ratio of 1.0
and Mach-altitude boundaries that vary linearly from Mach
2000 4 at sea level to indicated cruise Mach number (Mer) at
80,000 feet.
1500
At a constant Mach number, the internal pressures
in airbreathing engines decrease rapidly with increas-
1000~--------~----------~--------~
ing altitude. It is therefore common practice to estab-
5 6 7 8 lish Mach-altitude (M-Z) design boundaries that per-
Cruise Mach number mit the Mach number to increase with altitude.
Figure 5 - Typical maximum temperatures at 80,000 feet Figure 6 shows typical maximum pressures in subson-
altitude as a function of cruise Mach number for critical ic and supersonic combustion chambers for nominal
components .
M-Z boundaries in which M varies linearly with
altitude from Mach 4 at sea level to a prescriQed
occur in the subsonic inlet ducts and combustor of cruise Mach number (Mer) at Z = 80,000 feet. Pres-
the DCR are restricted to small sections of the en- sures in subsonic and supersonic inlet ducts show
gine. Of even greater importance, at a given free- similar reductions with altitude.
stream Mach number and altitude, the pressures and For the assumed M-Z boundaries, the highest
heat fluxes to walls in the supersonic inlet ducts and engine temperatures occur during high-altitude
combustor are much lower than in the subsonic inlet cruise; those temperatures dictate the choices of
ducts and combustor, so that both mechanical and materials and insulation thicknesses for engine com-
thermal stresses are lower. ponents. However, the highest internal pressures oc-
cur at sea level, and, depending upon the selected M-
Loads Environment Z boundary, they may determine the structural thick-
Missile structures must be designed to withstand nesses of the engine components.
the loads imposed by shipboard shocks, launch,
boost, and sustain flight conditions as well as the Range Requirements
thermal stresses and distortions generated by aerody- Flight times for wide-area-defense missiles can ex-
namic and propulsion system heating. Little change ceed 10 minutes even though the average speed is hy-
is expected in the shipboard shock environment; personic. When these flight times are combined with
however, newly developed vertical launching systems the temperatures shown in Fig. 5, the oxidation of
may include shock mitigation systems to alleviate the structural materials, the cooling of avionics, and the
transmitted shock loads. Boost- and sustain-maneu- thermal protection of fuel and missile subsystems be-
ver loads are likely to increase for advanced self-de- come problems. Materials with high-temperature ca-
fense and area-defense missiles, but little change is pability frequently have lower strength and higher
expected for missiles in other mission categories. density than those with lower-temperature capability.
It is seen from Figs. 5, 7, and 8 that superalloys (al- ing the filaments and infiltrating the resulting pre-
loys of nickel and cobalt) may be used for external form with the matrix material.
skins away from leading edges for speeds up to Mach The ultimate tensile strength and stiffness of uni-
7 at 80,000 feet and for inlet ducts for speeds up to directional filamentary lamina are lower than those
approximately Mach 5.5. At higher Mach numbers, of the filament; in turn, the ultimate stress and stiff-
refractory alloys (alloys of molybdenum, colum- ness of the multidirectional laminate are less than
bium, tantalum, and tungsten) will be required for those of the lamina. Multidirectional laminates usu-
those components. Refractory metals will also be re- ally arc required in practical applications and one
quired for unswept and swept leading edges at speeds cannot directly compare the strengths of monolithic
above Mach 5.5 and 6, respectively, at 80,000 feet. materials with those of filaments or unidirectional
The combustion chamber and nozzle temperatures composites. A more rational approach, but one that
are beyond the limits of metals and require thermal does not take full advantage of the ability to tailor
protection or construction from carbon materials. the composite to the loading, is to compare the prop-
erties of monolithic materials with those of "pseudo-
Composite Materials
isotropic" composites. In these composite materials,
The concept of composite materials dates back sev- the unidirectional lamina are oriented to provide the
eral thousand years to the use of straw to reinforce same properties in all directions lying in the plane of
dried-mud building blocks. The use of steel to rein- the laminate.
force concrete, or of carbon black and fabrics to re- Figure 9 compares the room temperature values of
inforce rubber, has been commonplace for nearly a Flu / wand E/ w of several unidirectional and pseudo-
century. Fiberglass-reinforced plastics have had isotropic composite materials with conventional met-
limited use in aircraft since the 1940's, but only now als. The results show the reason for the current in-
are advanced high-strength composites being used in terest in developing the composites to reduce weight
aircraft structures. In missiles, composites were first in flight-vehicle structures.
used in fiberglass-epoxy radomes of subsonic missiles The temperature limits on the composite materials
and filament-wound rocket motor cases of strategic exceed those of the matrix materials for short ex-
missiles. posure times; e.g., the temperature limit of a
The high-strength reinforcing material in a com- graphite-aluminum composite is roughly 100°F
posite can take the form of long filaments, short greater than that of monolithic aluminum. Unpro-
fibers or whiskers, or a finely divided particulate. tected titanium matrix composites will be useful for
Filament materials include glass, boron, graphite, skins away from leading edges at speeds to Mach 5.5
organic fibers such as Kevlar, and silicon carbide at 80,000 feet, and carbon-carbon has the ability to
(SiC), which is also used as a particulate material.
Epoxy resin is the most commonly used matrix mate-
rial for applications to 400°F. Polyimide and o Unidirectional composite
polybenzimidazole matrix resins are being developed
o Pseudoisotropic composite
for applications to 700 and 850°F, respectively, and
o Monolithic metal
it is predicted that future resin systems will have 5~----~------~----~------~----~
short-time capabilities to 1000°F.
Aluminum, magnesium, and titanium metal ma-
trix materials are also undergoing development. The ~ S·glass-epoxy
aluminum and titanium matrix composites will be "fi 4
useful to temperatures of approximately 600 and .=
(0
o
1000°F, respectiv.ely. At the high end of the tempera-
ture scale, carbon-carbon composites consisting of
graphite filaments in a pyrolyzed and graphitized
pitch or resin matrix have been used in rocket noz-
zle applications where the temperatures approach
6500°F.
Two-dimensional filamentary composites are Type HMS
made by stacking and bonding together lamina com- graphite-epoxy
posed of unidirectionally oriented filaments embed-
ded in a matrix material. By selecting the filament
\ " ' \ Ti662 titanium '
and matrix materials, the volume fraction of the fila- \ 300 M steel
ments, the stacking order of the lamina, and the di- 7178 aluminum
OL------L------~----~------~----~
rections of the filaments in each lamina, the designer o 2 3 4 5
can tailor the laminate to provide the necessary
Specific stiffness, E/w (X 10 8 inches)
strengths and stiffnesses in all directions. The design
Figure 9 - Comparision of room temperature values of
procedures are complex, and computer programs are
ultimate specific strength , Ftu/w, and specific modulus,
required to predict laminate properties. Three-di- E /w, of unidirectional and pseudoisotropic composite
mensional filamentary composites are made by weav- materials with commercially available metal alloys.
Design stress
Material (psi) 10.0
en 80 Pyroceram 9606 22500 Hot-pressed silicon nitride _ _ _
en
HPSN 43000
...~ RSSN 20000
en
c:
60 SCFS 4000 ...
~en
Cl
'c;; 8.0
.,
Q)
c:
.... o
...c:
0
40
CJ
CJ
",
------Py-r-~
'':::
Q)
CJ tJ
~ ~ 6.0 __
Q"
20 C
Reaction-sintered silicon nitride
10 30 2040 50 60 70 80
4.0
_____F_us_e_d_s_ili_c_a_ _- - -- --
Time (seconds)
~oid 5650M (ablator)
Figure 10 - Thermal stress performance of several ra-
dome materials. 2.0 :---......
"Avcoat 8029 (ablator)
mal shock . Of the three, the last imposes the most domes were hemispherical (future domes may take
critical requirements on the dome material. (, on a lower-drag aerod ynamic shape), which pre-
Sapphire, spinel (MgAI 2 0 4 ), and IRG-11 sented a vulnerable region where frontal and near-
(Ca-A1 2 0 J ) are the infrared dome materials that frontal raindrop impacts were possible. Numerous
have the best thermal shock capabilities. Of the elec- reports (among them Ref. 7) have shown that rain
tro-optical materials, the silicas and VYCOR 7913 erosion is proportional to the normal velocity com-
are very attractive. For most applications, the sap- ponent, and considerable damage to hemispherical
phire material cannot be considered because of cost, domes exposed to rain at supersonic speeds might be
leaving spinel and IRG-11 as the best candidates for expected. Efforts are in progress to develop suitable
infrared applications where thermal shock is a design rain-erosion-resistant coatings for infrared and elec-
problem. Spinel is a magnesium aluminate glass hav- tro-optical domes and to use aerodynamic shapes
ing good thermal shock resistance and good infrared that reduce the angle of incidence of the rain.
transmittance for wavelengths beyond 5 micro-
meters. IRG-11 is a calcium aluminate glass that has CONCLUDING REMARKS
good thermal shock resistance because of its high ten-
Future missiles designed to meet the wide-area de-
sile strength. A disadvantage is its slight solubility in
fense needs of the Navy's surface Fleet may fly at hy-
water, which necessitates a protective coating, but it
personic speeds for up to 10 minutes. External aero-
deserves special attention for infrared dome applica-
dynamic and internal combustor heating will place
tions. For the near-infrared window, the VYCOR
stringent demands on structural materials, in many
7913 material may be most attractive since a 2-mil-
cases necessitating the use of external insulation to
Ii meter thick layer has a transmittance above 90070
protect airframes and internal insulation to protect
out to a wavelength of 2.5 micrometers. Thermal
internal components. Flight environments also im-
shock is not a major problem with most of the elec-
pose demanding requirements on guidance systems,
tro-optical materials; however, the low thermal ex-
necessitating the development of new and improved
pansion combined with the thin wall increases the
sensor window materials. New, high-firepower
difficulty of designing a suitable mount for the
launching systems will impose weight and volume
domes. Special compliant joints must be used to en-
restrictions on missile designs. The incorporation of
sure that the dome is not overstressed by differential
advanced resin, metal matrix, and carbon composites
expansion at the mount.
into missile airframes has the potential of increasing
For supersonic mi ssile applications, the infrared structural efficiency through improved weight and
dome temperatures will increase approximately in volume control.
proportion to the flight velocity. These elevated tem-
peratures generally reduce transmittance of the dome
material as well as cause energy to radiate to the seek- REFE RENCES
er, both of which affect the signal-to-noise ratio. J W . B. Shippen and W. C. Caywood, Feasibility Study of the Use of the
Long Range Typ hon Ramjet Engine fo r Tests on the X- 15 A irp lane,
Some data on transmissivity and emissivity as a func- J H Ul A P L TG542 ( Dec 1963).
tion of temperature have been reported, but addi- 2L. B. Weckesse r an d L. L. P erini , " Eva luation of T herma l Models for
tional measurements must be made before a high- DC-93- 104 ," Proc. 14th JAN A FColllbustion Meeting (A ug 1977).
J R. K. Frazer , "A Unified Radome LimiJati o ns Computer P rogram,"
speed dome can be designed. Proc. 12thSYlllp. onElectrolllagnetic Windows(l2-14Jun 1974).
Because of reduced visibility, infrared and electro- 4c. A. Murph y, L. B. Weckesser , and . E. P o ul os, "Thermal Testin g of
optical systems generally are not expected to perform Slip-Cast Fused Silica Radomes," Proc. U. S. A ir Force- Georgia Tech.
_SYlllp. on Electromagnetic WindolVs(Jun 1966) .
in bad weather conditions, but this does not fully re- ) L. B. Weckesser and R. K. Fraze r, " Eval uati o n of Radomes for H yper-
move the requirement that the domes must be able to sonic Flight ," A IAA paper presented at the Fourth Therm o ph y ics Con-
withstand flights through rain. Missiles carried ference (23 -25 J ul 1969).
6 F . Mege rlin and L. Ra yburn , "Thermal Shock o f Infrared Mi ss ile Domes
aboard aircraft are subject to rain, and a multimode dur ing H igh Speed Mi ss ile Fli g ht," Proc. Tenth SYlllp. on Electrolllag-
guidance, long-range missile may have to fl y through netic Windows (JuI1970).
7 G . F . Schmitt, Jr. , and A . H . Krabill , Velocity -Erosion Rate Relation-
rain before reaching its terminal phase near the tar- ships of Materials in Rain at Supersonic Speeds, AFML-T R-70-44 (Oct
get. In the past, nearly all infrared and electro-optical 1970) .